KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - This could be Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jon Thorsen's most memorable promotion. The 15-year veteran from Marshall, N.C., received his new stripes from Defense Secretary William Cohen in an impromptu courtyard ceremony at the U.S. Embassy here Jan. 13.

JAKARTA, Indonesia - The United States and the Philippines could soon resume joint exercises, combined training and ship visits under a new visiting forces agreement, Defense Secretary William Cohen announced here Jan. 14.

SINGAPORE - This tiny island nation at the tip of the Malay Peninsula strengthened its support of the United States Jan. 15 with the announcement it will build a new harbor to accommodate U.S. aircraft carriers and other warships.

MONTEREY, Calif. - When the Air Force decided to go with the C-17 cargo plane and the Office of the Secretary of Defense needed to look at base infrastructure in Europe, they turned to a complex computer model designed in part by professors and students of the Naval Postgraduate School here.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - When the sun rises on Nagano, Japan, for the XVIII Winter Olympic Games next month, eight soldiers and an airman will be among the 200 athletes representing the United States of America.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - The U.S. military presence in Asia should be broadened and deepened, yet not increased in the region above the current level of about 100,000 troops, Defense Secretary William Cohen said here Jan. 12.

WASHINGTON - The United States already has "a very robust presence" in the Persian Gulf region and will not send more service members in response to Saddam Hussein's latest provocation, Pentagon officials said Jan. 13.

WASHINGTON - "The United States remains totally committed to full implementation of the Dayton peace agreement," said Robert Gelbard, President Clinton's special representative for the implementation of the peace accord.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - In the midst of the escalating financial crisis that's rocking world stock markets, Defense Secretary William Cohen called his visits to seven countries important to security and stability of East Asia.

LIMA, Peru - Before it was the United States' biggest supplier of illegal cocaine, Peru was a major exporter of chocolate. Thanks to increasingly successful interdiction of narcotraffickers and an alternative crop plan, some coca farmers here once more produce candy for the mouth instead of the nose.

IQUITOS, Peru - Rusted tin- and thatched-roof huts rise on narrow stilts at the edges of the jungle and along the banks of the brown Amazon River. Boats of varying sizes -- but none of them large -- creak against crude docks. Young men in long rowboats drift slowly, some holding bamboo fishing poles, others just staring silently toward shore. None pays heed to the Peruvian naval patrol boat carving a deep wake as it diesels up the middle of this quarter-mile-wide stretch of the 2,000-mile-long Amazon.

WASHINGTON - The Martin Luther King Jr. Center at Boston University evolved from riots and disturbances following King's assassination on April 4, 1968, said Mable L. Millner, director of the university's Multicultural Affairs Office.

MONTEREY, Calif. - A Navy SEAL creeps silently through dense bushes, and approaches a structure with American citizens held captive inside. He needs to see inside the building to find how many hostages there are and exactly where they're located, but he cannot simply walk up to the building.